Ghost Pointer
Point at things on someone else’s screen, over the internet — decoupled from whatever is sharing it.
built 30 Aug 2026 · sha256 05a72e7a02ff9eb7…
What it is
Somebody shares their screen on a call. You see it in a window on your own desktop. You arm a hotkey, move your mouse over that window, and a ghost cursor appears on their actual desktop and follows you, with a short fading trail.
It is not tied to Zoom, Meet, Teams or anything else, because it never talks to them. It just draws a dot on a desktop — so it works with whatever you already use, and keeps working when you switch.
- Never captures the screen. It asks for no screen-recording permission and cannot see anything.
- Never controls the machine. No clicks, no keystrokes, no remote control.
- Never sends anything but coordinates. Two numbers between 0 and 1. That is the whole payload.
On macOS it needs no permissions at all — neither side gets a single permission dialog. That was measured on real hardware, not assumed.
Installing it
This build is not signed yet, so macOS will block it once
Signing needs a paid Apple developer account, and this is a test build. Nothing is wrong with the app — macOS simply refuses to vouch for a developer it has never been told about. You have to allow it by hand, one time, per machine.
- Open the
.dmgand drag Ghost Pointer into Applications. - Open it. macOS says it cannot verify the developer — dismiss that.
- Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll to the bottom, and click Open Anyway next to Ghost Pointer.
- Open it again and confirm. That is the last time you will see it.
Or skip all of that from a terminal:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine "/Applications/Ghost Pointer.app"
Using it
Install it on both machines — it is one app, and you pick your side when you open it.
| 1. Pick a side | I’m pointing if you are the one pointing; Point at me if you are sharing your screen. |
| 2. Room code | One of you presses New and reads the six characters out. The other types them in. Both press Connect. |
| 3. Guest picks a screen | Whoever is sharing chooses which of their displays it is. The app never looks — you have to say. |
| 4. Host sets the aim area | Click Set the aim area, then drag a box around the window showing their screen. The box snaps to the shape of their display. Do it again whenever that window moves. |
| 5. Point | Press the hotkey — Control+Alt+Shift+G by default — and move your mouse. Press it again to stop. Or switch to Hold ⌥ and point only while Option is down. |
What it does not do yet
Drawing or annotation, marks that stay on screen, accounts, a menu-bar icon, reconnecting on its own, Windows. This is a first build meant to answer one question: does pointing at someone else’s screen actually feel good?